


The Wife

by Sindra_Falcone



Series: The Nannyverse [3]
Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, Light Angst, Romance, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:13:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sindra_Falcone/pseuds/Sindra_Falcone
Summary: Part 3 of the Nannyverse Series!
Relationships: Choi Seunghyun | T.O.P./You
Series: The Nannyverse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698616
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	1. Acceptances and Ultimatums

**Author's Note:**

> (**Please note: This series was written in full about 2-3 years ago. Therefore, Seungri does make appearances in it & he is written in a positive light. If that’s going to bother you, this might not be the fic for you.**) 
> 
> Warnings: This chapter starts out really fluffy… then it gets kinda dark at the end.
> 
> Author’s Note: Here we go again! The third and final part of the series is here. :)
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This story contains fictional representations of real people. None of the events are true. This is from an American standpoint, so some of the situations may not happen the same way they might in Korea. I make no money from the writing of this fictional work.

“Will you marry me?”

Your eyes scanned the words again and again, thinking that it was just too good to be true. Then you heard a collective gasp that made you spin around to see what was going on behind you.

What you saw was enough to make a gasp leave your lips as well… Seung Hyun knelt down on one knee holding a familiar looking blue ring box. With a wide smile on his handsome face, he beckoned you over to him with his free hand.

You took the few steps across the floor to him, sliding your hand into his… your other hand still holding tightly to the locket.

Seung Hyun cleared his throat nervously before he began his proposal.

“In my life, things happened that left me emotionally numb and I lived with that for so long that it became a part of who I was. The time came when I wanted to feel something but I didn’t know how. Then you came along & taught me to feel again in all the ways I thought I had forgotten.” he said, quietly.

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“___________-ah, you have been the only woman to see me before anything else… before my music, before my idol status, before my wealth. You are my best friend. The one person, besides these four idiots, I know I can count on. You’re the love of my life. You’re my one and only. You’re my everything.”

Before he could continue, you heard Seungri snigger quietly from his seat on the couch. Young Bae reached out and smacked him on the arm.

“Shut up, maknae! Your hyung is trying to propose!” the older man hissed.

If Seung Hyun heard any of that, he didn’t let it bother him, he just continued with his well rehearsed speech. After all… he’d had two years to perfect what he wanted to say.

“I love you, and every time I see you, I want to hold you in my arms and never let go. You’re the one that fills all the little dark places in my heart. You deserve the world, and I know I can’t give that to you. So I want to give you the next best thing: my world.” he carefully popped the ring box open.

“____________-ah, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” he finally asked.

By this point, tears were streaming down your face, but you still found yourself nodding at him.

“Yes… of course!” you managed to say, your voice shaking with emotion.

Seung Hyun let out the breath that he had been holding as he waited for you to answer him. With tears in his eyes, he removed the ring from the box, sliding the shining diamond onto your finger. As he did so, the others began clapping and cheering.

Once the ring was firmly in place, he stood up suddenly gathering you up into his arms and twirling you around the living room as you both laughed in sheer joy. When he finally put you back down again, both of you were swarmed by the four witnesses to your proposal. There were hugs, high fives and words of congratulations all around.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
After all of you shared glasses of celebratory champagne and toasts to your future, the guys had finally decided to leave and give the two of you some time alone.

You sat in the De Sede chair, admiring the ring on your finger when Seung Hyun walked back into the room after having seen his friends out the door.

“Do you like it, gongju-nim?” he asked, walking across the room towards you. “We can exchange it for something else if…” his voice trailed off uncertainly.

“Don’t you dare!” you said, with mock incredulity. “I love this ring. After all… my fiance has impeccable taste.” you told him with a wink.

He chuckled. “True.”

He reached down, grasping you by the hand and easily pulling you up out of the chair and against him, wrapping his arms around you. For a while he was just content to hold you as you laid your head on his chest, still looking at the ring on your finger with awe and a touch of disbelief.

“Seung Hyun?” you asked.

“Hmmmm?”

“Did I really carry that slip of paper around for over two years? You didn’t, like, I don’t know… change it when I was in the shower one day or something?” you wondered.

He laughed lightly, the sound making his chest rumble against your cheek.

“No, __________-ah. I promise that I didn’t change the paper. That’s the same one that was in the locket when I gave it to you.” he said, sounding both pleased and amused.

You pulled back to peer up at him.

“But why?” you asked him, obviously confused. “Why not just ask me to marry you then?”

Seung Hyun sighed. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t want you to get angry with me.” he said, suddenly serious.

He led you over to the sofa and you both sat down, your hands entwined with his.

“To be honest… I knew I wanted to marry you after you came to Germany.” he said bluntly. 

You felt your mouth drop open in shock but before you could say anything, he continued.

“I felt like I couldn’t ask you without telling you about my music and my idol status first. You deserved to know what you were getting yourself into. But… I was selfish and put off telling you. I just… I didn’t want you to look at me differently once you knew. It’s been so long since anyone besides my family could look at me and just see me… really see Choi Seung Hyun and not T.O.P.”

You gave his hands a little squeeze when he paused.

“People see what they want to see, naui wangja. I told you in the beginning that I wanted to get to know the real you regardless of your job & that’s still true. I feel privileged to know and love the real Choi Seung Hyun.” you told him with a smile.

“Thanks, ________-ah.” he smiled shyly back at you. “It means so much to hear you say that. I’m sorry for making you wait two years… I wanted to marry you, but I wasn’t sure if you felt the same until you promised to wait for me to return from my enlistment. Then I knew.”

“Just don’t make me wait another two years until we get married and we’ll call it even.” you said playfully, climbing over to straddle his lap.

“Deal.” he rumbled before he began kissing you, his hands grasping your hips firmly.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning when you awoke, you stretched languidly… your body pleasantly sore from the activities of the previous night after you had finally made it into bed with Seung Hyun. From the sounds of it, he was already in the shower and that made you wonder if he had to go in for work today. Just in case he did, you decided to get up to start the coffee and make some breakfast.

By the time he came down to the kitchen, you had just finished the food. He greeted you with a kiss on the cheek before making both of you a cup of coffee as you placed to food on the table so you could eat.

Halfway through breakfast, you were picking at your food, lost deep in thought.

“You okay?” Seung Hyun asked. “You seem… pensive.”

“Yeah, I… It’s stupid really.” you attempted to brush him off.

“Tell me, please?” he asked, sounding truly concerned.

“I was just wondering a couple of things. One is trivial, the other… not so much.” you said.

“Okay… let’s start with the trivial one.” he told you, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Well… when you put the locket on me the first time and then when you took it off yesterday, you kissed the clasp. I was just curious as to why.”

“Oh, is that all?” he smiled. “I was making a wish. The first time, I wished that you really would wait for me. Yesterday, I wished that you’d say yes.”

You couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped.

“Really? Making a wish on a necklace clasp? I haven’t done that since I was a teenager.” you laughed.

“Hey, don’t make fun of me! Obviously, it worked.” he shrugged. “What’s the not so trivial thing?”

You sighed deeply before telling him what was really bothering you.

“We still have to tell your mother.” you said quietly.

“Ah, yes… there is that.” he said, his playfulness suddenly gone. “I called her before I came downstairs.”

“Seung Hyun-ah!” you exclaimed before he could finish. “Please tell me that you did not tell your mother about our engagement over the phone!”

You watched as a look of utter horror crossed his face.

“No! Oh God, no! I would never disrespect her or our relationship by doing that!” he reassured you quickly. “I just told her that we would be coming over to see her tomorrow.”

You let out a breath of relief. You had only recently begun to feel that the intimidating woman was starting to like you. If Seung Hyun actually had told her over the phone… you shuddered at the thought.

“Thank, goodness!” you said breathlessly. “Sorry, jagi… I’m just really afraid of what her reaction is going to be. Even if we tell her properly in person, I don’t know if she’s going to accept me or not.”

“What are you talking about, ________-ah? My mother really likes you.” he said.

“As the nanny, yes. As her future daughter in law… maybe not so much. I mean… Seung Hyun-ah, I’m not even…” you couldn’t bring yourself to finish the thought.

“Not even… what?” he waited for you to complete the sentence. “Korean?”

You nodded, your eyes downcast to the table. Seung Hyun reached out across the table and tipped your chin up until you looked him in the eyes.

“It doesn’t matter to me that you aren’t Korean. And anyone else who does have a problem with it, will have to answer to me. Even my mother…” he said in a low voice that held no room for argument.

You nodded to him to show that you understood & he released his hold on your chin with a nod of his own.

“Do you have to go in today?” you asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

“Yes.” he sighed. “I’ve got to tell President Yang that we’re getting married. It’s not going to be pleasant.”

You tried to stop your body from stiffening at the mention of the man, but by the look on Seung Hyun’s face you knew that you had failed to do so. To try and distract him, you quickly got up and started gathering the dirty dishes.

“_________-ah?” Seung Hyun said. “What’s wrong now?”

“Nothing!” you said, a little too cheerily. “Nothing’s bothering me… I’m fine.”

“That’s a lie and I know it. I saw you tense up when I mentioned Yang…” he said quietly, reaching out to grasp you by the arm and pull you into his lap. “Tell me why.”

You sighed in defeat. You didn’t really want to tell Seung Hyun any of this… especially since you had been hiding it for so long.

“I… um, I met him the night you came home from Germany.” you said, your voice barely a whisper.

You felt Seung Hyun’s grip on your waist tighten. “Did he… threaten you?”

“Well… no, not exactly. He just implied that you had hired me as a foreign nanny in order to brainwash me into falling in love with you.” you said in a rush.

“He did what?!?” Seung Hyun’s voice was ice cold.

“Then he asked me if you had told me about your ex yet and if you had trusted me enough to tell me about your career.” you said.

“Anything else?” he bit out through gritted teeth.

“Um, no… at that point Daesung arrived and sort of saved me.”

He let out a heavy breath. “Well thank goodness for that… You never should have had to deal with him in the first place. Why didn’t you tell me about it before now?”

“I knew the brainwashing comment was just said to rile me up and the rest, I figured you would tell me when you were ready… if it was even true. He was trying to turn me against you & I wasn’t going to let him.” you said honestly.

“I’ve said it before, and I will probably say it for the rest of my life… but what did I ever do to deserve you?” Seung Hyun said as he leaned forward and kissed you.

“Don’t worry about Yang.” he said when he pulled away. “I’ll deal with him and hopefully that will be the end of it.”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two hours later Seung Hyun walked into the YG building, looking as if he were ready to murder someone. He didn’t actually have an appointment to see Yang but he didn’t even care. Taking the elevator to the correct floor, he briskly walked down the hall & breezed right past the secretary’s desk.

“Can I help you, Mr. Choi?” she asked, but he completely ignored her.

“He’s in a meeting!” she exclaimed as Seung Hyun began to open the door. “He doesn’t like to be disturbed!”

Seung Hyun flung the door open so hard that it bounced off the wall behind it. Stalking into the room like a lion in the middle of a hunt, he crossed the room to stand in front of the President’s desk… paying no mind to the other two people in the room.

“Seung Hyun?” Yang questioned. “I’m in the middle of a meeting…”

“When was the last time I showed up here in the middle of the day… without an appointment?” Seung Hyun interrupted.

“Good point. Gentlemen, it appears that we will have to finish this later. Please excuse me.” Yang said.

Once the others had left the room, Seung Hyun began pacing.

“Seung Hyun…” Yang began, but before he could continue he was interrupted.

“I’m getting married.” Seung Hyun said bluntly.

He could hear Yang inhale sharply. Good… Seung Hyun thought. I need to throw him off balance.

“Now let’s not do anything crazy here, Seung Hyun… What brought this on? Is she pregnant? I can take care of that for you if you want… make it go away.” Yang said with a sneer.

At the mere thought of anything happening to take you out of his life, Seung Hyun saw red. He instantly stopped his pacing, turned on his heel and slammed his fist down onto the President’s desk.

“Don’t you dare come anywhere near her ever again.” he said, his voice dangerously low. “And no, she’s not pregnant… not yet.”

If Yang was intimidated by Seung Hyun’s anger, he didn’t show it. He merely smiled and gestured to one of the chairs that sat in front of the desk.

“Come now, Seung Hyun… why don’t you have a seat so we can discuss this like gentlemen?” he said.

Seung Hyun reluctantly sat down on the very edge of the seat.

“I know everything that you said to her after I came back from Germany, and I won’t tolerate you speaking to the woman I love in such a manner.” Seung Hyun began, he barely even paused, not wanting to give the other man a chance to speak.

“Over the past 3 years that she has been in my life, I have still fulfilled all the obligations of my contract. And even after we marry and have children, I will still abide by it. I love my career but I love her more. The first time I had to chose, it came out in your favor… I wouldn’t be so sure of that happening a second time if you force me to choose again.” Seung Hyun rose from the seat and started to walk out of the room.

“This isn’t open for negotiation, sir. I am getting married. I didn’t come here to discuss it with you… merely to keep you informed, as a courtesy.” and with that, he walked out the door.

Yang sighed as he leaned back in his leather desk chair.

“Well that could have gone better…” he muttered to himself.

He had been biding his time, thinking that Seung Hyun’s relationship would fall apart on it’s own. Now that it was clear that wasn’t the case, he was going to have to take matters into his own hands.

_'It’s a pity that Sasaeng couldn’t have succeeded in eliminating her…'_ he thought. _'That would have made things so much easier.' ___


	2. Telling Mama Choi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fluffiness
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This story contains fictional representations of real people. None of the events are true. This is from an American standpoint, so some of the situations may not happen the same way they might in Korea. I make no money from the writing of this fictional work.

Seung Hyun walked into the bedroom, his eyes searching for any clue of where you might be. He had just gotten off the phone with his driver and the car would be here to pick both of you up in about half an hour. However, it wasn’t his eyes that told him where you were, but his ears. From the direction of your humongous, shared walk-in closet he heard your voice.

“No… not that. Not that either. Too short… too long. Oh God, why did I even _buy_ that? It’s a horrible color!” he heard you muttering in frustration.

His mouth quirked up into a smirk as he strode across the room, coming to stand in the doorway of the closet. But that smirk quickly faded once he saw you and his mouth went suddenly dry. He had found you alright… found you standing in the closet in nothing but your underwear as you searched in vain for something to wear.

“__________-ah?” Seung Hyun rumbled. “What are you doing?”

You whirled around to face him, a bit startled by the interruption. What you saw was enough to make your mouth go dry as well. He was leaned up against the door frame of the closet, his long arms folded across his chest. It wasn’t that he was dressed extravagantly or anything, just slacks and a button down shirt… it was simply fact that the man made anything he wore look damn good.

“I can’t figure out what to wear to meet your mother.” you whined, turning back to the clothes on the rack in an attempt to distract yourself from the wayward thoughts Seung Hyun was causing you to have.

“You are aware that you’ve already met the woman, right?” he asked in amusement, straightening himself up and walking into the room.

“I know that… I just… it’s different, okay? I need something demure, but not too girly. I have to look modest but like a woman, mature but not too mature.” you tried to explain.

He walked across the closet space, coming to stand directly behind you. You could feel the body heat radiating off him even though he was careful to not actually touch you. It made you shiver and you wondered idly if you would ever get used to the reactions that Seung Hyun was capable of drawing from you with just his mere presence. The man hadn’t even touched you and already you could feel the familiar heat curl low in your belly.

“In that case…” he said quietly, reaching over you to pluck clothes from the hangers. “Wear this… and this… and this.” he handed you a skirt, a sleeveless blouse and a cardigan that was just a shade lighter than the skirt.

“And…” his eyes scanned across your small collection of shoes. “Those shoes.” he pointed to a pair of kitten heels that matched the blouse perfectly.

In less than a minute, he had given you the perfect outfit.

“How… how did you…?” you stuttered. “I’ve been in here for over an hour!”

“Never question the fashionista.” he chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to your shoulder.

“Jagi… what are you doing?” you asked with a grin.

He inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of your skin and then continued kissing his way across your back to your other shoulder.

“We have about thirty minutes before the car gets here. And, since I’ve just helped you with your outfit dilemma, that’s plenty of time…” he explained between kisses.

“Plenty of time for…?” you asked, playing coy.

In response he began sliding the straps of your bra down, his nimble fingers sliding sensuously against your skin.

“You’re nervous… I’m nervous… this will help.” he said bluntly. “And, if we hurry… I can even help you choose accessories.”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thirty five minutes later, you were sitting in the backseat of the car as it wove through Seoul traffic.

“See?” Seung Hyun said, reaching out to take one of your hands in his. “Don’t you feel better?”

You laughed. “Yeah… a little bit.”

He arched an eyebrow at you. “A little bit? Hmmmm… I’ll have to do better when we get back home.”

“You know what I mean.” you playfully smacked him on the arm. “This is a big deal…”

“I know.” he sighed.

“Are you sure that gift is enough?” you asked, pointing to the basket of oranges that sat on the other side of Seung Hyun.

He gave you a sly smile. “I think she will appreciate the joke.”

You shrugged. “If you say so…”

You had no clue what the joke was. You had wanted to pick out your own gift to give her, but Seung Hyun had insisted that it would look better if you presented a united front & had the shopkeeper write both of your names on the gift tag in elegant calligraphy.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once you arrived, Seung Hyun helped you out of the car before retrieving the basket. You had clung to his arm all the way up to the front door but after he rung the bell, you had let go of him to nervously smooth imaginary wrinkles out of your skirt.

“Relax, gongju-nim…” he said, his voice instantly soothing you. “You look beautiful as always.”

The door popped open to reveal the smug face of Hye Yoon.

“So you’ve finally decided to make an honest woman out of my nanny.” she joked, stepping aside to let you inside the house.

After bows were exchanged, she grabbed your hand to get a good look at your engagement ring.

“Not too bad, brother.” she said, turning to face him. “Oranges? Really?” she asked in disbelief, gesturing to the gift wrapped basket in his hands.

He shrugged but said nothing.

“Well, she’s waiting for you in the living room. Good luck.” Hye Yoon gave your hand a squeeze before turning to walk away.

“Come on, let’s get this over with.” Seung Hyun said with determination. “Remember, let me do the talking unless she asks you a direct question.”

“I got it. Sit there & look pretty.” you fixed a small smile on your face.

You let Seung Hyun walk a few steps in front of you so that you could follow him to the living room. Walking into the room, you saw Seung Hyun’s mother seated on a delicate looking, cream colored settee. She rose to greet you both but the polite expression on her face faltered slightly as she noticed the basket of oranges in Seung Hyun’s hands.

He bowed deeply & when he straightened back up, held the basket out to her with both hands.

“Omma… you look well today.” he told her with a smile.

She said nothing as she took the basket from him and set it down on the table. You thought you saw the hint of a smile on her lips, but it might have been your imagination. She turned to you then and you were careful to execute a ninety degree bow for her. When you straightened, you saw her slightly incline in your direction. Okay… you thought. That’s better than nothing.

You remained standing, waiting until Seung Hyun’s mother sat back down before taking a seat next to Seung Hyun on the other settee in the room. You were hyper aware of how you were sitting, being sure that no part of you actually touched the man beside you. You crossed your legs at the ankle and folded your hands in your lap, trying your best to appear ladylike.

“I believe that you already have an idea why we are here.” Seung Hyun began. You were sure that no one else would have noticed the nervousness in his voice, but you could hear it.

“Perhaps…” his mother replied coolly. “But I would rather hear your explanation than waste time blindly speculating.”

Seung Hyun nodded. “__________-ah and I would like your blessing to marry.” he said plainly.

If she was surprised by this, the woman in front of you didn’t show it. In fact, she showed no emotion at all. Her head slowly swung in your direction, fixing you with a piercing gaze.

“And what do your parents have to say about this?” she asked sharply.

You risked a glance at Seung Hyun before replying, seeing him bob his head slightly in encouragement. You longed to reach out and take his hand in yours, knowing that his touch would help soothe your frayed nerves, but you knew that wasn’t an option. You looked back towards his mother, mindful not to look her directly in the eyes, instead you fixed your eyes on her chin.

“My parents are deceased, ma'am.” you said quietly, but firmly.

You heard her take in a small breath of surprise.

“How?” she asked, her words blunt but not unkind.

“They were killed in an car accident.” Seung Hyun answered.

You watched as the woman’s shrewd gaze quickly turned from you to her son, seeming to pin him down where he sat.

“Did I ask you?” she barked at him.

He merely shook his head, looking like a small boy who had been admonished.

“Since you can’t seem to follow the rules of polite conversation, Seung Hyun… leave us. We will continue this discussion without you.” she said in an uncharacteristically stern voice.

You saw his eyebrows shoot up in surprise, but he moved to obey his mother anyway, bowing quickly to excuse himself from the room. Once he had left, she looked back to you.

“Now where were we…” she said, her voice slightly softer. “Oh yes, your parents. So, you are an orphan?”

You nodded, not sure what else to say to that.

“Then, tell me… what do you bring into this potential ‘love marriage’ with my son?” she asked you.

Luckily for you, Seung Hyun had coached you through what this conversation would most likely entail, so you felt ready for the question. Knowing that education was important in Korean culture, you decided to start with that.

“I hold two degrees. One in the childcare field obviously, and the other is a Bachelor’s degree in fine art.” you began, but before you could continue, she interrupted.

“Fine art?” she asked, sounding intrigued.

“Yes ma'am. I put myself through college straight out of school to obtain that one.” you told her with a touch of pride.

“Continue.” was all she said.

“I also will not be a financial burden on Seung Hyun.” you informed her. “I still have the settlement from my parents estate in a savings account and I have been adding what I can to it for the past three years. It wouldn’t be enough to live extravagantly, but we could still be… comfortable.”

From the look on her face she seemed slightly impressed, so you kept going.

“And… I…” you faltered slightly with this last part & took a deep breath before you could continue. “I love your son… deeply. I have spent our time together attempting to take care of him, especially when he doesn’t take care of himself. I only want to make him happy.” you said quietly.

She surprised you by scooting over to the side of her settee and patting the now empty space next to her.

“Come here, ________-ah. I want to show you something.” she said with the first smile you’d seen from her since you had arrived.

As you moved to obey her, you saw her reach up under the coffee table and pull out what looked like a large, leather bound photo album. After you had sat back down, she placed the album in your lap and simply nodded her head at it, indicating that you should look through it.

You cracked open the cover & were greeted with an 8x10 photograph of one of the cutest looking babies that you had ever seen in your entire life.

“Is that…?” you asked breathlessly.

“Seung Hyun.” she said with a smile.

“He’s adorable!” you exclaimed as you turned the page.  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For the next few minutes, you just turned pages and watched as Seung Hyun grew up right before your eyes through pictures. You noticed that his mother was beginning to tense up beside you, watching you with anxious eyes, but you had no idea why.

Before you knew it, you were looking at a teenage Seung Hyun, his style obviously heavily influenced by the hip hop scene.

“Just look at his smile.” you said, with a smile of your own as you gently touched your fingertip to the photo. “He looks so confident!”

You started to turn the page but her hand darted out to stop you, grabbing you by the wrist. You were so startled by the action that you looked up into her eyes, completely forgetting that you weren’t supposed to do that. You were surprised to see unshed tears there.

“Is that all you see?” she asked, her voice cracking with emotion.

You looked back down to the photograph with a frown, trying to figure out what it was that she wanted you to see so badly, but you were coming up with nothing.

“Yes… that’s all I see.” you told her honestly, feeling disappointed with yourself for not being able to decipher what it was she was trying to tell you.

Before you knew what was going on, Seung Hyun’s mother had let go of your wrist and pulled you against her in a tight hug.

“Oh, you sweet girl… you’re perfect!” she exclaimed.

After embracing you for a few moments more she pulled away and cupped your face in her warm hands.

“I give you my blessing to marry my son.” she whispered, her tears falling freely now.

“Really?” you couldn’t help the surprised question since you were still thoroughly confused at her sudden change of heart.

“Yes, really.” she laughed lightly her hands sliding from your face and dropping to take hold of your hands.. “The photo album was a test.”

“A test?” you were still baffled.

“I’m sorry for doing that to you. But I needed to be sure that you really loved Seung Hyun for who he is on the inside. Most people just see the well groomed, handsome man that he is today… or they see his wealth and Idol status.” she began to explain.

“I knew you weren’t after any of that. But it’s easy to get swept up in his good looks and most girls don’t understand that he hasn’t always looked like that.” she gestured to the photo album in your lap.

You glanced back down at it and then sudden understanding hit you like a truck.

“You expected me to be upset about his weight?” you asked her.

She nodded. “Most people would be.”

You shook your head. “He’s still the same beautiful Seung Hyun to me. I’m more attracted to his personality than anything else. I mean… the good looks don’t hurt, but…” you giggled nervously.

She patted your hand. “I understand dear… trust me, I do. Here, let me have a look at the ring.”

After studying the ring on your finger for a few moments, she nodded in approval.

“He did well. It’s big enough to make a statement but still reasonable enough to be practical. He always did have impeccable taste.” she said with a touch of pride.

“It’s easy to see where he gets that from.” you told her.

“Thank you, dear. Now… I have a gift for you.” she reached over beside the settee and pulled a gift bag out from behind a potted plant where she had it hidden. “I was going to give it to you during our next cooking lesson, but I think now is an appropriate time.”

You took it from her with both hands, giving her a slight bow as you did so.

“Thank you, ma'am.” you said.

“None of that now…” she admonished. “From now on, I am your mother. You call me Omma.”

“But I thought…” you fumbled. “Shouldn’t it be eomeonim?”

“Perhaps… but every girl needs a mother. And as you don’t have one, I thought I could be that for you… if you’ll let me.” she explained.

“Thank you. I… that means a lot to me.” you said with a smile, as you eagerly dug into the bag to see what was inside. You felt your fingers brush up against something made of fabric & you grasped it carefully to pull it out. As you unfolded it, it became clear that it was an apron. It was ridiculously frilly, made of a pink and white gingham material with your name embroidered on the top in hangeul.

“Oh my gosh! I love it!” you squealed in delight.

“Hye Yoon and I have matching ones.” Seung Hyun’s mother explained. “Mine is green and hers is blue. I didn’t know your favorite color, so I used his. I hope that’s alright.”

“It’s perfect.” you said as you stood and began to tie it on. “There. How does it look, Omma?”

She stood and looked you over approvingly, her hands on your shoulders.

“It looks fitting. Welcome to the family __________-ah.” she said proudly.  
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours later and you were standing in the middle of her huge, gourmet kitchen, bustling about along with Hye Yoon. You had done this so often during your cooking lessons that the three of you now performed together like a well oiled machine in order to get everything done.

Seung Hyun sat at a small table off to the side in the massive kitchen, effortlessly balancing Seon Hwa on his lap, sipping at a glass of red wine and helping Yeon Jun with his homework. Every so often, he would sneak glances over at you and a wide grin would spread across his face. He knew he was smiling like an idiot, but he just couldn’t help it.

The sight of the three most important women in his life, all getting along and even wearing matching aprons was enough to fill his heart with joy. For once, it felt like everything in his life was going the right way. It was a rare enough occurrence that he couldn’t help but cherish it.

“Could you hand me that whisk, angel?” Seung Hyun’s mother asked, testing out her new nickname for you. She had decided on 'angel’ because she felt that’s exactly what you were, an angel sent to care for her son when she couldn’t.

“Sure thing, mom.” you said automatically in English as you retrieved it and gave it over. It hit you what you had done when you saw the confused look on her face.

“Sorry… I’m sorry… I…” you tried to explain through sudden tears. “I… my mom used to… call me that.”

Noticing that you were upset, Seung Hyun immediately stood and started over to you, the baby still nestled in his arms.

“Jagiya…” he said, quietly concerned. But before he could get there, his mother was waving him away.

“It’s okay, Seung Hyun-ah. I’ve got this under control.” she said, wrapping you up in her arms to soothe you. “I am perfectly capable of comforting my new daughter.”

He didn’t immediately move to sit back down, standing there in the middle of the kitchen taking in the scene before him in shock and confusion. He had expected his mother to be accepting of you, just not this accepting.

“It’s okay, _________-ah.” his mother crooned quietly to you. “I won’t use that nickname anymore. I’ll figure out something else.”

“No.” you said as you pulled away to look at her, swiping at your tears with your hands. “Please. I… I liked hearing it again. It just… took me by surprise, that’s all. I would love for you to call me angel.”

“Then I would be honored.” your new mother said, drawing you into another hug.


End file.
